At the helm of a rapidly evolving digital ecosystem, Sharat Sinha, Director & CEO, Airtel Business, is driving Airtel Business toward its next phase of growth by delivering future-ready platforms that span IoT, cloud, cybersecurity, AI-powered communications, and edge infrastructure. With over three decades of global leadership across Fortune 500 tech firms, Sharat Sinha brings a rare blend of operational depth, strategic foresight, and customer obsession.
In this exclusive interview, Sharat unpacks how Airtel Business is empowering Indian enterprises to simplify ESG compliance, reduce energy volatility, and scale securely in the age of cloud-native platforms and AI convergence. From building India’s largest integrated IoT network to pioneering the Airtel IQ platform for hyper-personalized communications, Sharat shares how the convergence of 5G, AI, and cloud is set to redefine enterprise strategy over the next five years and how Airtel is preparing India Inc. to lead that transformation with agility, resilience, and purpose.
How can enterprises simplify compliance with evolving sustainability regulations and streamline ESG reporting processes?
With evolving regulatory frameworks, enterprises need a seamless approach to compliance, and Airtel IoT’s Smart Energy Management solutions deliver exactly that. By automating ESG reporting, these solutions centralize real-time energy data collection, simplifying adherence to frameworks such as SEBI’s Business Responsibility & Sustainability Reporting (BRSR). AI-powered dashboards generate audit-ready reports on carbon footprint and energy consumption, ensuring accuracy and efficiency in regulatory disclosures. Additionally, the system continuously monitors energy efficiency improvements, helping businesses align with sustainability mandates. This translates into streamlined reporting, reduced compliance risks, and a faster, more efficient submission process for regulatory requirements such as SEBI BRSR.
How can businesses enhance operational efficiency and sustainability with Airtel IoT while mitigating risks from energy price volatility?
By adopting Airtel IoT’s Smart Energy Management solutions, businesses can significantly improve energy efficiency and resilience. These AI-powered tools enable real-time monitoring and predictive analytics, helping enterprises reduce energy costs by up to 15% and maintenance expenses by 20%. Enhanced visibility into energy usage boosts productivity by up to 11% and minimizes downtime. The solution offers intelligent forecasting and demand response strategies that adjust consumption based on pricing trends enabling businesses to manage energy price volatility. Regular energy audits can help identify inefficiencies, while integrating renewable sources like solar and wind ensures greater energy security and cost stability.
Built on Airtel’s secure 4G and cloud infrastructure, the platform supports seamless integration, scalability, and centralized energy tracking. It also simplifies ESG reporting and accelerates decarbonization, helping businesses stay compliant with evolving regulations and benefit from government incentives. In summary, Airtel IoT’s Smart Energy Management solutions empower enterprises to lower operational costs, navigate market uncertainties, and strengthen their sustainability commitments—delivering a clear competitive advantage.
What strategies should cloud-native communication platforms adopt in an era where personalization and scalability are key?
In today’s digital era where personalization and scalability are paramount, cloud-native communication platforms must be designed to be agile, intelligent, and highly secure. For enterprises, cloud communication must deliver seamless integration with CRMs, real-time analytics, and robust compliance with regulatory standards, each of which are now central requirements across industries like banking, healthcare, retail, and manufacturing.
At Airtel Business, we built our Airtel IQ platform to meet these demands head-on, leveraging advanced cloud infrastructure, AI-driven automation, and deep integration capabilities that been built on our robust and reliable telco-grade network. Our cloud-native architecture ensures effortless scalability, supporting millions of concurrent interactions and rapid deployment across locations.
Airtel IQ is engineered to unify voice, SMS, WhatsApp, and email into a single, intelligent interface, empowering enterprises to engage customers exactly how and where they prefer. Personalization is powered by real-time analytics and automation, enabling targeted campaigns, automated responses, and contextual engagement. With AI-driven orchestration, we dynamically route communications based on real-time analytics, customer preferences, and urgency, ensuring every interaction is relevant and timely. Features like Assured Delivery guarantee 100% message delivery, while advanced fraud detection and end-to-end encryption keep sensitive data secure.
We combine world-class technology, security, and scalability with a relentless focus on customer experience and compliance by empowering enterprises to innovate, scale, and succeed in today’s digital-first, highly regulated business environment.
With hybrid work and edge computing on the rise, how are enterprises rethinking connectivity beyond traditional bandwidth to prioritize agility, latency, and resilience?
As enterprises embrace hybrid work and edge computing, connectivity is no longer just about bandwidth—it’s about agility, ultra-low latency, and resilience.
We have been leading this transformation by enabling enterprises across segments – small, medium, large and Government, to thrive in the new digital era by combining deep connectivity expertise, advanced security, and cutting-edge automation and delivering unmatched agility, scalability, and resilience for hybrid work and edge computing use cases.
We understand the unique challenges faced by businesses across the multiple levels ranging from seamless remote collaboration and real-time data processing to robust cybersecurity and scalable infrastructure. Our solutions are, therefore, engineered to address these needs holistically, empowering businesses to thrive in today’s dynamic environment.
With our robust pan-India network of over 400,000 route kilometers of fiber along with our resilient data center network of 14 large and 120+ edge facilities, we ensure robust, real-time performance for mission-critical applications. In addition, our 5G-ready infrastructure and cloud-first SD-Branch solution, integrates LAN, WAN, security, and hybrid connectivity into a unified, cloud-managed platform enabling rapid branch deployments and seamless scaling across Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. With our AI-led, self-healing networks and proactive monitoring, we ensure 99.99% uptime and seamless user experiences, even in distributed environments.
We are redefining enterprise connectivity by offering end-to-end, customizable solutions with a relentless focus on solving today’s unique enterprise challenges—empowering organizations to innovate, scale, and succeed in the ever evolving digital landscape of today.
One trend that you believe will reshape the technology sector in the next 5 years? What is Airtel Business doing today to prepare for it?
One trend that will fundamentally reshape the technology sector in the next five years is the convergence of AI, 5G, and cloud computing. This will drive unprecedented levels of automation, real-time analytics, and hyper-personalized digital experiences for enterprises and consumers alike. This convergence is unlocking new possibilities in areas like smart manufacturing, connected healthcare, and immersive education, while also raising the bar for security, agility, and resilience.
At Airtel Business, we are already leading this transformation. Our pan-India 5G network, coupled with India’s largest integrated IoT platform, enables millions of devices to connect, communicate, and collaborate in real time powering use cases from smart factories and connected ambulances to automated inventory management and immersive learning. We are embedding AI across our platforms, from predictive engagement and intelligent fraud detection in Airtel IQ to automated, AI-driven operations in our data centers for energy optimization and maintenance.
We are partnering with the best in the industry to build an ecosystem of best-in-class solutions ensuring that enterprises can innovate and scale with confidence. In all this, security is at the core of everything we do, with AI-powered threat detection, Zero Trust Architecture, and 24/7 monitoring embedded across our digital ecosystem.
By investing in rural connectivity, cloud-native applications, and advanced analytics, we are future-proofing Indian enterprises for the next wave of digital transformation and delivering agility, reliability, and innovation at scale.